The nights are drawing in, the leaves are beginning to fall, your breath is visible in the air and the Christmas advertising campaigns are starting to roll out.

It can only mean one thing – Winter is almost here.

The rapid seasonal change requires businesses to quickly adapt their shop fittings and displays to match the changing weather, temperature and general feeling of customers or risk getting left out in the cold.

So what should you be doing to prepare your retail and fashion displays for the onset of the colder months?

Here are some suggestions we’ve put together to help you create a successful winter shop fittings display:

1) Updating Stock/Displays to Reflect Changing Trends

The change in season brings with it a whole host of retail changes. For fashion retailers the switch is obvious – summer dresses on mannequins and sunglasses on accessories racks  need to be quickly changed over to warm jackets and gloves. Timing this change can be key to success – too early and you risk displaying a whole new batch of clothing that doesn’t reflect the weather outside. Watch competitors, keep an eye on weather reports and take notice of what shoppers on the high street are wearing.

For retailers in other industries the shift might not be as immediately obvious, but it still happens. What’s this season’s most sought after product? What does your business have to offer customers looking to escape the cold and enjoy the dark evenings? How can you use the holiday season and the rapid approach of Christmas to position your existing stock in a more attractive light? How can your retail displays improve your chances of making a sale?

2) Creating ‘Warmth’ with Inviting Lighting

As the mercury plummets, shoppers have to brave the cold to find the deals out on the high street. Making your window displays as ‘warm’ and inviting as possible can yield fantastic results. Use colourful lighting in warm tones like deep yellows, reds and oranges to invite customers in from the cold.

Continuing this sense of warmth from the window displays through to the shop fittings in the interior is a great idea. This will encourage shoppers to take their time and potentially find more items they want and increase the average value per visit. Matching the winter appearance and styling of your windows with your in-store experience avoids any jarring sense of the two being disconnected which could easily put customers off and hasten their exit from the store.

3) Make Christmas and Seasonal Sales Prominent

Winter isn’t Winter without Christmas. The largest retail event in the calendar seems to loom over the year earlier and earlier. A cursory glance around town centres and shopping hotspots will quickly reinforce the importance that many businesses attribute to Christmas. Don’t get left behind. Whatever your thoughts on the early introduction of Christmas offers you can’t afford to let potentially lucrative sales periods slip away. Prepare early and use the season to focus attention on best-selling ranges or stock items that have the best chance of selling over the festive period.

4) Create a Pleasant Shopping Environment

So your shop window might now look exciting, vibrant, seasonal, warm and inviting but what if the interior tells a different story? A cold, badly lit shop interior will produce poor results on the best of days, and Winter calls for even more scutiny when it comes to the general ambience and overall aura of your store. Maintaining a nice temperature for shoppers can be key.  Also ensuring that sufficient carpets and absorbent materials are placed around the entrances to soak up rain, snow and slush from visitors feet can make a huge difference.

5) Refilling Stock to Avoid Disappointing Displays

For many retailers, Christmas and the long build up that proceeds it can be the busiest part of the financial year. Increased numbers of transactions and customers combined with longer opening hours and seasonal sales can quickly deplete stock. Keep an especially close eye on your stock levels to make certain you won’t be left wanting. Bad winter weather can also affect transport and supply lines so it pays to be prepared.

This attention to stock detail also applies to your in-store displays. Regularly reviewing stock levels out on the shop floor will avoid the off-putting sight of empty shelves that can instantly turn customers off.

Image:  www.freedigitalphotos.net

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2012 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Retail Displays, Shelving & racking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.